Tears ran down the cheeks of players and coaches alike as the Hanover Hawks huddled for the final time this season near the north end zone of South County’s football field.  The team reflected on another outstanding season while the dust had yet to settle on the stinging disappointment of a 38-22 state semifinal loss to the Stallions.

  “I’m proud of our effort,” said head coach Josh Just. “I’m proud of how tough they showed me they are each and every day. Extremely proud of this group. I’m going to miss them a lot.”

  Burnt by big plays, trick plays and calls not going their way, the Hawks fell behind South County 24-0 at halftime. But given every opportunity to throw in the towel Hanover did not give up.

  “It’s tough to bounce back after giving those plays up but I thought our kids kept fighting,” Just said.

  In the second half the Hawks started scoring, slowed, but could not stop the Stallions big play offense. Yet, after all was said and done, Hanover did not feel so much as if they had lost the game, but simply ran out of time to keep their season alive.

  “We fought back tonight,” said quarterback Andrew Knizner. “One more quarter, a couple more minutes, we might have pulled this one out. You never know.”

  Fighting back was nothing new for Hanover. The Hawks faced a huge obstacle on Oct. 14 when starting quarterback Sam Rogers went out with a dislocated elbow. Even though it was a certainty he would not return to the pocket this season, the team kept on fighting behind Knizner. No one doubted that the Hawks could bounce back to win a regional title and play for a state championship.

  “I thought Andrew Knizner’s going to be pretty good,” Just said. “So, I thought we could do this.”

  “I never doubted our team. I never doubted myself,” Knizner said. “I knew we were going to fight back and do exactly what we did.”

  Likewise, Rogers fought to get back on the playing field, only missing three games before returning as wide receiver, running back, linebacker and kick returner. Facing South County, Rogers played on virtually every down of the ball game.

  But Rogers was only a microcosm of the Hawks’ team character. Battling back against the huge Stallion deficit was never a question.

  “They’re fighters and they fought the whole time,” Just said. “They weren’t just going to turn over and quit. That’s not them. They won’t do that in life. They weren’t going to do that today.”

  As such, it is the special character of this particular team that Just feels he will miss most. From never being late for practice, to hard work in the off season, to absorbing game plans, as a team, the Hawks give it their all. “You don’t have many kids that buy in like that and do it for each other so I’m just proud of them,” he said.

  “That just shows the character we have on our team,” Knizner said. “Our guys are so tight and we’re like a family. We play every done, every snap for each other.”

  Though they never reached the state championship game, Hanover seniors such as Xavier Crocker, Matt Palmen, Henry Reeves, Aaron Hall, Patrick Sorey and James Jones among so many others can leave with their heads held high knowing they accomplished what few high school football players have done.

  Over the past four years, Hanover has played in 50 games, coming away with 38 wins, two Central Region Division 5 titles and one Capital District championship. In the first five years of existence, Hanover won a total of 16 games. Likewise the group finished their careers of an average ranking of 39th among all levels of football in the state of Virginia and 11th among Division 5 schools compared to an average of 151st and 40th in the previous five years.

  “Not many kids get to play as many football games as those kids did,” Just said. “A lot of kids don’t get that opportunity and I think they appreciate it and they fought like they appreciate it.”

  “It’s outstanding what they’ve done for this program,” Knizner said of the senior class. “What they’ve put in. All the time and effort and everything. I just wish we could have extended the season just one more game to the state championship just to help those guys out. I really wish we could have done that.”

  But now the focus turns to next season where the Hawks know they have the talent to maintain their stranglehold on the region. If anything, the adversity opened doors for Hanover to be even better in 2012 with the return of team leaders such as Rogers, Knizner, Usman Mahmood, LJ Jones, Justin Peebles, Donte Haynesworth, David Cryster and Stu Mains among others.

  The last time Hanover was left teary-eyed after a state semifinal loss they fought back to go undefeated in the regular season the following year. Knizner sees the same possibility for the Hawks in 2012.

  “We’re hungry for it now,” he said. “We as hungry as ever now. All off season we’re going to push ourselves until we can’t go any further and come out next year and hopefully we’ll just run right through it.”

  Standing on the field where the state semifinal was played Knizner made a prediction. “We’ll be here next year and hopefully we’ll have a rematch,” he said. “That would be awesome.”